Army denies troops mutilated in Mosul attack / 2 soldiers died from gunfire; no one's throat found slit

John Daniszewski, Patrick McDonnell, Los Angeles Times

Published 4:00 am, Tuesday, November 25, 2003

2003-11-25 04:00:00 PDT Mosul, Iraq -- U.S. officials on Monday rejected Iraqi accounts of the grisly deaths of two U.S. soldiers over the weekend, an attack that raised fears of a new level of anti-Americanism.

A knowledgeable American official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the troops had died of gunshots in a surprise ambush, which took place on a congested street in the middle of the day Sunday. He added that their throats had not been cut and that they had not been otherwise mutilated, as some earlier reports suggested.

"It was by no means a Mogadishu scene," said the official, referring to the dragging of dead U.S. servicemen through the Somali capital's streets after a gunbattle with warlords. "There were no throats slit."

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The soldiers were shot, then pulled from their sport utility vehicle in west Mosul, the largely Arab part of the multiethnic city, the official said. It is unclear whether the attackers or passersby pulled them out, or some combination of the two. All their valuables were looted, but their uniforms were not removed, the official said, declining to provide details.

The major inconsistency between the official's account and that of witnesses and local residents was the time it took for other U.S. soldiers to arrive on the scene. The official said that a response team had found the shot- up car and bodies five to 10 minutes after an Iraqi police officer reported it to a U.S. compound. People on the street said U.S. troops had not arrived for 60 to 90 minutes after the shooting.

It appears the soldiers had no opportunity to return fire because they were surprised by the attack. Another U.S. source, also speaking on condition of anonymity, offered more details on how investigators think the attack occurred. According to this official, a car stopped in front of the soldiers' vehicle, and several assailants got out and opened fire. The soldiers, both male, were shot through the windshield and died of wounds to the head, the official said.

Rocks apparently were thrown at the vehicle, breaking the rear window, but it was unclear whether that happened after the soldiers were already slain.

It is standard procedure for U.S. soldiers in Iraq to travel in convoys of at least three vehicles, and Army investigators didn't know why the pair were traveling alone, reportedly between two garrisions.